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Partially Solved PLA is splitting/delaminating

Discussion in 'Troubleshooting' started by Shontzy, Apr 5, 2016.

  1. Shontzy

    Shontzy New Member

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    I have been trying to print some sections (7" tall and 9" length) of an airfoil recently and I first tried with ABS. I was having issues with warping and splitting so I decided to move to PLA since it is supposed to be easier to print with. It is not separating from the glass bed like the ABS but it is still splitting partially along the layers on both the trailing edge and the leading edge of the airfoil (approx. 2 splits along the 7" height). I have tried to change settings to get it to stop and my recent print only split on the trailing edge. I started with general PLA settings and a 60C bed. I tried to increase the nozzle temp to 215 as well as decrease to 200 and neither worked. I also built a cardboard enclosure to try to keep temps up a little, and I increased the extrusion multiplier to 1.02. On the last print I also decreased the speed to 50mm/s movement.

    Other specs: 0.6mm nozzle
    0.4mm layer height
    Inland Black PLA (I confirmed it is PLA)
    Infill 18% (GRID)
    2.5mm Perimeter
    6 count brim
    MatterSlice

    Any ideas?
     
    #1 Shontzy, Apr 5, 2016
  2. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    less bed temp plus lower extrude temp (just over-all less temp).

    I have seldom had issues with PLA doing that sort of stuff, but when I have it is always because I was too aggressive on the heat.

    Now splitting is different than layer separation so make sure we know what you mean :) The layers not staying stuck together is a different problem.
     
    #2 mark tomlinson, Apr 5, 2016
  3. Shontzy

    Shontzy New Member

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    Sorry, I mean layer separation
     
    #3 Shontzy, Apr 5, 2016
  4. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Ah, well that is a horse of a different color :)

    Start by calibrating the extruder. Sparse layers can be a real pain.

     
    #4 mark tomlinson, Apr 5, 2016
  5. Shontzy

    Shontzy New Member

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    Thanks! it was underextruding by 8%. I will have to wait for more filament to print my next big piece.

    Do you know what effect the filament width setting has on the print? It did not seem to affect the extruded length.
     
    #5 Shontzy, Apr 5, 2016
  6. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    It should not. It will affect how the slicer puts the layers together (it has to know how wide it will be to make a complete layer).
    The width of the filament extruded is nominally the size of the nozzle (so 0.4 mm for most folks).
     
    #6 mark tomlinson, Apr 5, 2016

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